1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and method. In particular, the present invention provides a system and method to uniquely identify identically configured branches in a distributed enterprise.
2. Description of Related Art
In a distributed enterprise, such as a retail or banking enterprise, the enterprise's computer network may consist of many branches that may be configured identically, i.e. network topology, shared drives, network attached storage devices, etc. For example, in a retail enterprise, each branch, i.e. store, may have a similar configuration for its network, i.e. a server, network data storage device, computing devices in the sporting goods, electronics, clothing, etc., departments, and the like. Thus, from one standpoint, each branch looks to be the same. This can be a problem when attempting to configure computing devices for a specific branch with branch specific information.
Since each branch looks to be exactly the same from a centralized viewpoint, it is not possible to remotely configure each branch individually with their own branch-specific configuration information. That is, it is not possible to differentiate between branches so that one can determine which configuration information is to be applied to which branch computing device. As a result, with known systems, it is necessary to send a human technician to the physical branch location in order to configure the computing devices at that branch location with branch specific configuration information.
In view of the above, it would be beneficial to have a system and method to uniquely identify identically configured branches in a distributed enterprise so that branch specific configuration information may be used to configure computing devices in the identified branch.